4. Operation Feuerzauber 1977
On October 13th, 1977 four Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, calling themselves Commando Martyr Halima, hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181. The hijackers took the plane, which had been heading from Spain to Germany, on a flight path through the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East finding airports that would allow them to land to refuel. At one such stop the pilot of the plane left the aircraft at Aden airport to check its airworthiness. He took too long for the terrorists and when he returned they killed him.
The plane made a final stop in Mogadishu where the terrorists threw the body of the airline captain, Jürgen Schumann onto the tarmac. They announced the plane would be destroyed if the German government did not agree to release the Red Army Faction leaders within ten hours. The Germans had no intention of releasing the prisoners but they told the terrorists that it would take more time to get the prisoners to Mogadishu, so the deadline was extended to 2:30 in the morning.
In preparation to destroy the plane, the passengers were drenched in duty free spirits to ensure they would not survive. Germany sent 30 GSG 9 commandos who were trained in anti-terrorism to meet the plane. The commandos approached the plane in the middle of the night and entered through the doors near the fuselage. Somali soldiers created a distraction by lighting a fire several yards in front of the jet. This prompted the terrorists to go to the front of the plane and leaving the hostages in back. The commandos entered the jet and told all passengers to get down as they opened fire.
The assault was over in 5 minutes and all 86 passengers and 4 crew were rescued. Captain Jürgen Schumann and three of the hijackers were the only loss of life.